Implantable medical devices such as pacemakers, defibrillators and neurological stimulators treat various patient conditions through the delivery of electrical stimulation to the patient by way of electrodes operatively coupled to device circuitry by way of a connector block. The electrodes are operatively coupled to a power source and electronics which control delivery of therapeutic stimulation. The electrodes are then placed in proximity of patient tissue to which electrical stimulation is to be delivered. It is commonly the case that at least some electrodes are positioned on leads to be placed in proximity of the target patient tissue and which couple to the implantable medical device by way of the connector block.
Because such implantable medical devices are advantageously and commonly physically isolated under the cutaneous boundary of the patient with respect to external devices, such implantable medical devices typically utilize wireless telemetry to communicate with users by way of external devices. Because such implantable medical devices are physically isolated, they typically incorporate batteries to supply device power. However, such batteries are commonly either non-rechargeable or only rechargeable through inconvenient methods. As a result, implantable medical devices are typically configured to consume as little power as practical, including for telemetry. Consequently, telemetry is typically configured to transmit at relatively low data rates over relatively short ranges; inductive communications have historically served such purposes, while more recently low-power, short range radio frequency communication schemes have started to become more common.
When implanted, implantable medical devices are often configured to transmit and receive amounts of data that are very small in comparison with other common devices which transmit data, such as computers, cellular telephones and the like. As a result, implantable medical devices may not necessarily accumulate and save as much data as they might in theory be able to collect because transmitting out such data may be impractical given the limitations of the telemetry system.
After an implantable medical device has been manufactured and programmed, it may not be practical to transmit data to the implantable medical device by way of the telemetry system. However, during manufacture, all or most of the functionality of various aspects of the implantable medical device may need to be communicated to the implantable medical device. Similarly, in order to significantly analyze a condition or status of an implantable medical device after the device has been used and explanted from a patient, a significant amount of data may be need to be transferred. Consequently, a wireless communication system configured to facilitate relatively small amounts of data transfer over a given time may require large amounts of time to receive enough information to substantially program an implantable medical device or comprehensively analyze a condition of an implantable medical device. As a result, manufacturing processes and device analyses may be lengthened undesirably by a need to wait for extended periods while wireless communication of programming instructions occurs. Such delays may lengthen manufacturing time and analysis time and thereby increase costs.